"D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" (Now, can somebody fix it?)

CNN got into the comic news business Saturday night at 10 with "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News." I like D.L. He seems smart, thoughtful and there's a sharpness to his comic observations.

He's also wildly uneven when it comes to maintaining the funny. And so was his show.

The show is a mix between a traditional late night show and "The Daily Show," with interview with newsmakers and new folk. It's taped before a studio audience, which means you can get instant feedback. Let's just say during D.L.'s monologue there wasn't much uproarious laughter. I had heard much of his best stuff days earlier when he was plugging the show on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show." I'll admit to smiling a bit then.

D.L. obviously does a lot of research preparing for his interviews. And as a rookie interviewer, it shows. His questions are overloaded with all he knows. Worse, because he's a standup comedian most of the time, he often feels compelled to put in a one-liner and force the humor, rather than asking a question and letting the humor arise from the situation.

In one interview with former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan, D.L.'s question started on a note about people not accepting responsibility for their actions, then morphed into a joke about Colin Powell endorsing Sen. Barack Obama, then, well I don't remember. Yes, it was a long question.

In a final segment, D.L. went international, talking for CNN foreign correspondents (there was a lot of CNN news prescence on the show and it felt wrong). So what did he ask them? "Who will win the World Series?" To the woman from Mumbai: "Who would make a better astronaut, Obama or McCain?" I suppose this was some kind of comment on American self-centeredness. Or am I really trying to help the brother out?

Another thing hampering the humor: D.L. is partisan. He's for Obama and it's so obvious. The fun of watching this type of show is, I think, pointing out the absurdity of the entire political process, or the entire news business.

Which leads to this: I don't really know what this show is trying to do. Someone needs to take a breath and figure it out.

It's tough being a host and being funny doesn't mean you can do it. But I think D.L. can.

I'll check back in a few weeks and see if they've reigned this show in.